Posted by: rql () on Sat Dec 6 21:07:42 2003

I got to hear Polk talk about hitting this weekend,he talked about how he had Palmeiro and Will Clark at the same time and he just kept his mouth shut[good advice].Then he talked about how he had been beat once by a guy who had out smarted him all game ,a guy he had thrown at every other pitch and he could'nt keep him in the yard ,when he called for a steal his boys were sent back to the dugout by the catcher and finally late in the game with it on the line he called a squeeze with 1 out and 1 strike,the catcher called a pitchout and his team was eliminated from the CWS,he said he has not called a squeeze since then.Another coach stood up and told Polk he is sitting over there as he pointed to me he was quite surprised as I was but in a joking manner he told everyone I still hate that guy.Anyway if there was a common thread in all the instructors it was in there training plans.They all use less people in a group[polk 1 guy in the cage the others working on base running]more rounds of less reps ,situational rounds,from bunts to hit and runs to hit behind the runner,infield in infield back with man on 3rd less than 2 outs.How to work the hole between 1st and 2nd with man on 1st.If hitters do not produce in these rounds as well as 2 strike rounds,they lose their 3-1 rounds or free swinging.Free swinging is kept to a minimum,situational hitting is stressed each round 1 guy gave a great list of things pitchers or others do to give away the pitch before release and how to adjust.Polk talked about keeping the front hip in as long as possible and I explained later to him that what he was demonstrating was hip cock[part of the load].He talked about squash the bug ,I explained about heel to the sky and he then said he had often seen that in video,I told him the knee drive was the cause the heel to the sky was the effect.